The Fall of Cambodia's Scam Empire: Inside Transnational Crime Networks

When does a real estate mogul become a transnational crime emperor? For Chen Zhi, the line blurred somewhere between building casinos and trafficking humans across Southeast Asia.

The $15 billion Bitcoin seizure by U.S. authorities last October marked the largest asset forfeiture in Department of Justice history. Its owner? A 38-year-old entrepreneur who transformed Cambodia's Sihanoukville from a "seedy coastal resort" into a "casino boom town"—while secretly orchestrating one of the region's most sophisticated fraud operations.

When Fiction Meets Reality

The 2023 Chinese film "No More Bets" sparked outrage across Cambodian social media. Critics called it an affront to the country's "dignity," complaining it had damaged tourism. The movie's protagonist, trapped in a scam compound, wore a gaming T-shirt prominently featuring Khmer letters—a detail that left audiences wondering whether the setting was Cambodia, Myanmar, or Thailand.

But reality proved more disturbing than fiction. An employee at Golden Fortune Resorts World, one of Chen's compounds, told Radio Free Asia that the illicit activities there matched "what the Chinese movie has revealed." When authorities disbanded the scam units, workers fleeing the operations were overwhelmingly non-Cambodian—a pattern that would become central to understanding these transnational networks.

Chou Bun Eng, a senior official in Cambodia's Ministry of Interior, explained the dynamic: "The crime syndicates run by foreigners have drawn other foreigners into their traps. Before they are trafficked into Cambodia, they are reached by the criminals in their own countries."

The Anatomy of a Transnational Empire

Chen represents the archetype of the modern "transnational" crime tycoon. Holding multiple passports, he allegedly exploited legal and financial loopholes across jurisdictions for more than a decade. After becoming a Cambodian citizen in 2014, he gained influence through what investigators describe as a "combination of elite access, patronage, and philanthropy."

Behind the legitimate facade, Prince Group operated a vast criminal enterprise. Beijing police established a task force to investigate the conglomerate in 2020. Two years later, a Sichuan province court revealed that the group had collaborated with Chinese nationals to establish online casinos at three Cambodian locations, including Golden Fortune Resorts World.

The scope was staggering. A compound linked to Heng Xin Real Estate Investment, a Prince Group affiliate, reportedly scammed Chinese farmers using social media messaging apps. The operation's reach extended far beyond Cambodia's borders.

Global Money Laundering Machine

Chen's criminal network operated like a sophisticated multinational corporation. The conglomerate established 117 shell companies across multiple offshore locations—Singapore, Taiwan, the Cayman Islands—to facilitate money laundering. The transactions included purchases of luxury assets: private jets, art collections, and Dubai real estate.

International law enforcement agencies began tracking Prince Group's activities following irregular financial transactions. The scale of the operation caught global attention when the U.S. Department of Justice seized Chen's $15 billion Bitcoin holdings. The British government sanctioned both Prince Group and its founder, with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper declaring: "The masterminds behind these horrific scam centres are ruining the lives of vulnerable people and buying up London homes to store their money."

Diplomatic Tensions and Regional Impact

The criminal activities strained China-Cambodia relations. Wang Wenbin, China's ambassador in Phnom Penh, told Cambodia's foreign minister that Beijing had noticed an increase in Chinese citizens going missing while traveling to the region. The frequency of such cases, he said, "runs counter to the traditional friendship" between the two countries.

This diplomatic friction highlights a broader challenge facing Southeast Asian nations. Officials argue that real-life scam dens are owned by "transnational" entities with tenuous connections to host countries. Yet the region's regulatory gaps and corruption create environments where such operations can flourish.

The Unresolved Questions

After Chen's arrest and extradition to Beijing last month, Chou Bun Eng expressed her frustration: "We still do not understand why these traffickers choose Cambodia for their operations." The comment reveals the complex dynamics at play—host countries that benefit economically from foreign investment while struggling to distinguish legitimate business from criminal enterprises.

The case also raises questions about international cooperation in combating transnational crime. While Chen's arrest represents a significant victory, it required coordination between multiple jurisdictions over several years. How many similar operations continue undetected?